At least 18 killed as Nepali passenger plane crashes on takeoff at Kathmandu airport

July 24 (UPI) -- A pilot was the lone survivor after a Nepalese passenger aircraft crashed and burst in to flames Wednesday, killing at least 18 people shortly after taking off from the capital, Kathmandu, authorities said.

All those killed were thought to be employees of the domestic carrier Saurya Airlines --18 Nepalis and one Yemeni citizen -- on a non-scheduled flight to the country's second-largest city, Pokhara, 125 miles northwest of Kathmandu. The BBC said it was a test flight, with a number of those on board working as technicians.

However, Tribhuvan International Airport spokesman Gyanendra Bhul said the aircraft was en route for maintenance .

In a statement posted on X , the Nepalese Civil Aviation Authority said the Bombardier CRJ-200 regional jet "veered off to the right and crashed on the east side of the runway shortly after takeoff."

It named the captain as Manish Ratna Shakya, who it said had been rescued and taken to the hospital, adding that his co-pilot was among those killed.

Videos posted online showed the aircraft rolling to the right and downward before hitting the ground, bursting into flames before being engulfed in a huge pall of thick, black smoke. Fire engines and ambulances raced to the crash site immediately afterward.

Airport chief Jagannath Niraula said the crash at around 11:15 a.m. local time "happened as soon as it left the ground, after less than a minute."

However, authorities have yet to comment on any possible cause.

Poor visibility amid rapidly changing weather conditions produced by Nepal's high terrain, landing strips perched on mountainsides and aging fleets in one of Southeast Asia's poorest countries all contribute to making it one of the most difficult places for aircraft to operate.

Nepal has seen many aviation disasters over the years, most of which have been blamed on bad weather and weak enforcement of regulatory standards.

In January 2023, at least 68 passengers and four crew were killed after a Yeti Airlines turboprop aircraft went down in a gorge near Pokhara.

The deadliest year was 1992 when a Thai Airways Airbus A310 crashed near Kathmandu in July killing 113 people followed two months later by a Pakistan International Airlines crash, also at Kathmandu, killing all 167 passengers and crew on board.

Both aircraft crashed into mountainous terrain on the approach to the airport.